Dance Gavin Dance vocalist Tilian Pearson will be "stepping away" from the band after allegations of sexual assault were made against him on social media. Band members Matthew Mingus, Will Swan, Jon Mess, and Andrew Wells released a statement saying that the band would continue on their current tours, and the promotion of their tenth album, Jackpot Juicer, without Pearson.
"The recent allegations against Tilian are something we take very seriously," they write, "and we have been in deep discussion regarding the appropriate action." They continue:
Effective immediately, Tilian will be stepping away from the band in order to seek professional help.
Jon, Will, Matt, and Andrew will continue on with all currently scheduled tours. The band will also be proceeding with the release of Jackpot Juicer as planned.
We all worked incredibly hard on this album, and it is also the latest recorded body of work from Tim [bassist Tim Feerick, who passed away in April] -- we want to be sure we give it the full release attention that it deserves to honor his legacy.
We know that this is a very upsetting and trying situation for all those affected, and we ask people to please be as understanding as possible while everyone works through this.
We appreciate you always.
Allegations against Pearson surfaced on Reddit and Twitter earlier this week. He posted a response on Reddit at the time, writing:
This morning I was made aware of allegations from someone regarding a brief relationship surrounding the weekend of Swanfest. Admittedly, this was a time when I was very vulnerable, but I can assure you that every sexual act was purely consensual. Since then, she has reached out to me multiple times wanting to see me again. We met again later in Cleveland on tour, and I decided to end things the following day. It was an amicable split, so this story coming out is extremely surprising.
I have text threads saved that paint a picture of the nature of our brief relationship, but I would prefer not to have to air that out.
It pains me a bit because I thought there was a general lightheartedness and sweetness that wasn’t mentioned in her version.
I take the subject of sexual assault seriously, and I want to firmly reiterate that there was no moment of anything happening that was not consensual. I understand that in a new sexual relationship, there is a period of figuring each other’s preferences out, but there is not a doubt our physical contact ever crossed boundaries into anything resembling assault.
My general state of mind surrounding the weekend was filled with grief, and I was leaning on alcohol as a crutch to get me through it. After Swanfest, I did the tour sober to properly grieve and got a lot of support from the band and friends.
Although her story saddens me to read, I won’t express any ill will toward her.
I hope this clears things up, and thank you for listening.
Tilian Pearson was DGD's third lead vocalist, following Jonny Craig (who was also kicked out amidst controversy and later also accused of sexual assault and domestic violence) and Kurt Travis.
